I have so appreciated the opportunity to live at Joseph’s
Chateau. This has been one of a very few
high points of being a Wounded Veteran living in a VA Medical Foster Care
Home.

Joseph’s Chateau has Direct TV in each of the private
bedrooms for the residents. We are a
family of three guys that make up this home.
Sheri our caregiver and director of the program allow us to watch the TV
shows that we enjoy how every late we want to.
We also have a big screen TV in the day room that we all gather to gather
quiet often and share ice cream and popcorn together while we share a movies,
ball games, or NSCAR races together with our therapy dog Sadie, playing with
her toys and eating her cookie or cracker in front of us.

Sheri supports me in …as she says…”we are dining and enjoying
losing weight with healthy eating, using the good china, and good etiquette/manners
with soul food and county conversation.”
Sheri always stresses that this is our home while we are here and she and
Sadie operates it like one. She is very
patient with us guys and helps us talk through things as long as it takes which
sometimes has been hours.

The general living conditions are excellent! I hear her
working late into the night as I go to sleep to have the home clean, neat, and
tidy for us the next day. She has the
support workers come in while we are asleep sometimes to clean the carpets, fix
something that has broken like a handle on the door cardboard.

She helps me with my small week allowance I get in budgeting
it so I have enough for Metro Mobility all week with some extra to pay my other
bills. She has helped me get my credit
rating from poor to good and now I am working to get to excellent. I have been able to pay off all debt, school
loan, and other expenses. She has encouraged
and believed in me when no one else has.
She never shames me and she always helps me to see the good side of a
sad situation. She has a way of helping
you laugh through the trail.

Sheri takes us guys out and about a lot. We go together to Menards to buy a nail for
the house or Mills Fleet Farm, Walmart for groceries, the bank, doctors’
appointments, church, and social events.

Sheri has counseled, consoled, and encouraged me regarding
family, medications, friends, driving, Metro Mobility, Spiritual – like how to
live in Christ. Then we have shopping,
budgeting, banking, helping me organize my stuff, avoiding scams, replacing a
professional team member, referring me to professional contacts, and where to
go to shred personal paperwork to protect my identity.

She has covered my back when I was staying out to late,
negotiated conflicts between use guys, and help me get into the YMCA. She also helps get me into a really good Day
Care Program, introduced me to a little bit about acupuncture, and taught me
how to make my own coffee which I thoroughly enjoy…smile! And last but not least
she has taught me how to live with Sadie our little 20 pound Lhasa apso therapy
dog that listens to all our ups and downs and loves me anyways!

(SF)

Joseph’s Chateau has been a life saver for me. I have lived here four years now and this is
my home. Sheri, the director and owner
of Joseph’s Chateau, got a puppy - a Lhasa Apso - and I helped raise her. So, now, she and I are two peas in a
pod. We do everything together and Sadie
watches over all three of the VA residents that live here and we play, love,
and take care of her. She is the central
spoke of the heart of Joseph’s Chateau.
Sadie takes her responsibilities very seriously! She checks on us, goes from lap to lap while
we watch TV with her and she plays with each of us. If we are tired and go lay down, then she
will come and lay down with us. She
loves her massages and when you stop massaging she pokes her noise on your hand
as a sign to continue.

Joseph’s Chateau is a beautiful home maintained by
Sheri. We get to watch her work and take
care of the yard, clean, cook, fix things, and move furniture. In general, she is a jack of all trades and a
hard worker. Sheri is a good cook and this
is a safe and nice home in which to be.
The home is close to the VA Center and the Adult Day program. All the vets here are in the VA Medical
Foster Care Home Program whereby the
team of VA professionals come to us.
This includes our primary doctor.
So, we don’t have to go to the VA.
We also have a team of various care professionals that come and check on
us weekly or whenever we need it. Part
of that team is the VA nurse who comes and sets up my medications. Sheri, then, monitors and reminds me to take
them. Sheri does a super job in keeping
abreast of all the government regulations.
The home has hand rails throughout and grab bars in all the bathrooms.

We are located close to the VA Medical Center, Mall of
America, the International Airport, the new Outlet Center, and my favorite is
the West Robert Street Strip where Menards, McDonalds, Baker's Square, Arby’s
and many other good places to eat and shop are located. The police and fire station is just six block
away.

We also have very good neighbors, like Cory to the East, who
has a wife and family of two little ones .
Cory faithfully comes to help and has helped Sheri build a fifth bedroom
in the lower level of our home. We had a
lot of fun watching them work on that project.
And then we have Mark on the West side of us. He works for the VA in the snow bird
department where they transfer medical records south during the fall season and
then north during the spring season. He
is a great guy also.

We also have a walking path across the street from us that
we and a lot of other seniors use to get out and get a little exercise. Sheri has lots of flowers in the front of the
house that she calls the Butterfly garden, oak trees in back for the squirrels,
and a big arbor and bench swings upon which to rest and relax.

We have Direct TV here in each of our bedrooms with a big
screen TV in the day room, and newspaper and magazines to keep up on the
sports. We residents like the quiet
environment to be calm and tranquil most of the time until we watch a Vikings
vs Packers football game, then we get a little noisy while we are eating our
popcorn and drinking our pop.

E. F.

My brother Mike H. had a
stroke at 65 and was signed in at the Vets Hospital in Minneapolis. Mike's two sons then signed him up for a
memory loss facility in his home town of Mankato and then to a larger nursing
home in Mankato where he was treated good but really didn't get the personal
attention to keep him busy though out the day.
Yes, they had activities, but Mike didn't sign up for them and was
basically sleeping all the time and didn't get out much. We then signed him up at "Joseph's
Chateau" where he was closer to the VA Hospital in Minneapolis and Sharon,
the director at Joseph's Chateau, signed him up for adult day care and some
spiritual events that I think prepared him for his death.

While
at Joseph's Chateau Mike had other men to play cards with and the attention he
needed to keep busy. I think in my
brother Mikes last months he needed the spiritual and physical care that was
provided to him. I would recommend Joseph's
Chateau. It is a caring and wonderful
place.